IMCA Research Seminar - Michelle Barnhart, University of Oregon
Institute of Marketing and Communication Management
Date: 19 September 2024 / 12:40 - 13:40
Room A-34
How U.S. Gun & Accessory Advertising Moralizes Civilian Use of Assault Rifles
Michelle Barnhart & Aimee Huff
College of Business, Oregon State University
Abstract
The category of firearms labeled assault rifles by some, and modern sporting rifles by others, are highly controversial in the U.S. While they are highly popular among gun purchasers—1 in 5 gun owners now have one—they are reviled by activists groups who view them as enablers of mass shootings and call for them to be banned. In this research, we take an assemblage thinking approach to investigate ways that advertising casts civilian use of this product as moral. Preliminary findings show that advertisers employ a combination of ads that: (1) minimize questions of morality, (2) emphasize moral identity expression, and (3) allow the viewer to imagine external actors and contexts for which exercising the assemblage’s material capacities would be a moral act. This work aims to contribute to theory on morality in the marketplace, product legitimation, and iconic branding. Please note that the presentation includes visual imagery that some viewers may find disturbing.
Bio
Michelle Barnhart is Associate Professor of Marketing at Oregon State University. Her research focuses on aspects of markets and consumption that impact consumer and societal well-being, and has investigated the contexts of eldercare and consumption in old age, ethical consumption, credit and debt, and guns in America. Her work has been published in the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Business Research, Marketing Theory, the Journal of Marketing Management, the Journal of Macromarketing, and the Journal of the Association of Consumer Research. Her research has been covered in, and she has provided expert analysis and commentary to, a wide variety of media outlets, including US News & World Report, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and The Conversation, as well as to documentarians, gun violence prevention groups, and litigators. Michelle holds a Ph.D. from the University of Utah and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Stanford.
